Do u agree to a boycott of the Olympics? Discuss.
Topic: Olympics
Issue: whether we should boycott it
Context: present, future / countries involved in Olympics
Key Words: boycott- not supporting, not approving
Olympics- major international sports competiton with many events, held once in 4 yrs.
Discuss- give stand and balanced argument
Stand: Yes/No
MY stand : i do not agree to a boycott of the Olympics
TS1: a boycott opposes the spirit of Olympics
TS2: a boycott will shatter the dreams of many athletes in countries supporting the boycott
TS3: a boycott is not likely to solve problems
TS4: we should respect the fact that the host country was selected to host
Selected TS: 3
Point: I think that a boycott is not necessary because it doesn't mean that problems will be solved.
El: A boycott is meant to threaten the host country to solve its exisiting problems. However, it is meaningless if the country does not feel that it is wrong. Other countries should reason with the country to make them realize their mistakes. Only through this, will future problems be prevented. Furthermore, the country may not be afraid of the threat.
Eg: For example, US and some other countries joined in the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott of the Moscow Olympics to protest against the December 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This had little impact on Soviet Union. In the recent boycott threat on Beijing 2008 Olympics, the European Union is staging a boycott to force China to solve its human rights problems, such as with Myanmar. However, China resists calls to boycott Olympics over Myanmar saying it is inappropriate and unpopular.
Ev: Therefore, boycott of the Olympics is not a good idea. Instead,it may backfire. The recent boycott threat may hurt the pride of Chinese and cause money such as in advertisements and tourism to go down the drain. This will start of a chain of events that will put the global economy in further crisis as China is a rising superpower and has a great influence on many countries, including US.
Link: Hence, we should not boycott the Olympics.
-Zi Jun
|12:14 AM|
Do you agree with a boycott of the Olympics? Discuss
T: Sports/Olympics
I: Should there be a boycott of the Olympics?
C: Present/Global/Olympics 2008
K: Boycott: Refusal to attend something as a sign of protest
Olympics: Sports event every 4 years
S: Yes/No
My Stand: I do not agree with a boycott of the Olympics
TS1: It is unfair to the athletes who have trained hard for the event.
TS2: It is against the Olympic spirit of bringing people together in peace to respect universal moral principles.
TS3: Boycotting may not necessarily affect the host country but the athletes.
TS4: Not showing due respect for the host country might lead to the outrage of the host country, which might lead to more problems.
P: Furthermore, boycotting of the Olympics would show a sign of protest, rebellion and disrespect to the host country.
E: This would strain diplomatic relations between the host country and the participating countries. The importance of diplomacy ensures a country’s stability and economic growth.
E: Take for example, the Olympics that is coming up in China. Countries such as Taiwan and Poland have threatened to boycott the Olympics 2008. China is a rising superpower in the world today, in terms of trade and military power. The gross domestic product of China in 2006 was estimated at about 20 percent that of the USA. It ranks as the fourth largest economy behind the US, Japan, and Germany.
E: If diplomatic ties are broken, the country would thus suffer in terms of the decrease in trade. If the boycott outrages the host country, war may even result leading to blood shed and destruction.
L: Thus, countries should not boycott the Olympics so as to maintain diplomatic ties with the host countries.
|8:17 AM|
Olympics
Do you agree with a boycott of the Olympics?Question Analysis
T-Sports and politics
I-Should the Olympic be boycotted?
C-present, global ( countries involved in the Olympics )
K-boycott: abstaining from taking part, withdrawal as a sign of protest
S-No. I abhor the idea of boycotting the Olympics.
Topic Sentences:
1) It is unreasonable for the countries to threaten to boycott the Olympics as it is a worldwide sporting event, not a chance for them to further their political gains.
2) The boycotting of the Olympic games will deprive their athletes who have trained hard a chance to represent their country.
3) Boycotting the Olympics will only damage the ties between China and the countries that did it, which may prove to be detrimental.
4) It is against the Olympian spirit to mix sports and politics together
It is against the Olympian spirit to mix sports and politics together. Sports and politics are two different issues; they should be kept separate.US president Bush is facing pressure by his own administration to boycott the Olympics.US is using the prospect of boycott to pressurise China in solving the Tibetan crisis.In history, warring countries usually stop fighting for a while so that the athletes can get together peacefully to compete against each other.We should be able to set aside the conflicts between ourselves so as not to let it interfere into sporting events.It is irrational and detrimental on all fronts if sports and politics are allowed to mix.
Labels: richen...
|5:57 AM|
Do you agree with a boycott of the Olympics? Discuss
T.I.C.K.S
Topic: Sports, politics
Issue: boycotting of olympics
Context: present, Countries involved in Olympics
Keywords/phrases: boycott - to refuse to participate in an activity as a way of expressing strong
disapproval
Stand: I do not agree.
Topic sentence:
- It is not the Olympic spirit to include politics in sports.
- Boycotting of Olympics would cause some of the atheletes to not be able to participate in it, which is a goal of many athletes.
- Boycotting of the Olympics would sour relationships between host country and the countries boycotting it.
- Boycotts in the past had shown that it has little effect on the host countries.
Point: Boycotts in the past had shown that it has little effect on the host countries.
Elaboration: It is pointless to boycott the Olympics when it does little to affect the host country but rather more so on the athletes.
Evidence: America, Japan, West Germany, China and Canada were part of a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, to protest the Russian military action in Afghanistan. The number of nations of the athletes were reduced to only 80.
Explanation: The boycott did not affect the host country much, but many athletes were deprived of their chance to compete in the Olympics.
Link: I do not agree with a boycott of the Olympics as not only do the act not affect the host country much, which is the target for the political reason for the boycott, it affects most greatly the ahtletes who have trained so hard for the particular event, yet is denied the right to participate in the event.
--Qijun--
|5:48 AM|
Do you agree with a boycott of the Olympics? Discuss
Topic-Sports, politics
Issue-boycotting Olympics
Context-2008 China Olympics
Keywords- boycott: to refuse to have and dealings
Olympics: An international sports competition held every 4 years
Stand- I do not agree
Topic Sentences
1. China is violating freedom of speech and human rights
2. We should respect the IOC for choosing China as the host country for 2008 Olympics, it is too late to change host country now
3. Other countries should not interfere in China’s internal affairs
4. Politicization of sports goes against the Olympics spirit
Politicization of sports goes against the Olympics spirit. Politics and sports are two different issues; it should not be brought in together. In ST Thursday, April 10 2008, Defence minister Teo Chee Hean said “If you look at the history of Olympics, the people came together regardless of their feelings towards each other. In Greece they were fighting, but they called a stop, so that people could come together to celebrate sports.” This should be the spirit that people should have now, we should put aside all differences and come together to celebrate sports; Olympics is a festival of sports and not politics. By boycotting the Olympics, countries are preventing their athletes to enjoy the fruits of success after 4 years of vigorous training for the highly anticipated Olympics. Rather than criticize China, countries should participate actively in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and maybe after the event help them solve their problems. Hence i do not agree with a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Quek Sheng Quan
|7:35 AM|
Qn: To what extent do the newspapers and magazines that you read deal with what is trivial, rather than what is important? (2006)
T.I.C.K.S
Topic: Media
Issue: Content in newspaper and magazine
Context: Now, Global
Keywords/phrases: 1.trival - little importance, little value
2.important - neccesary or of great value
Stand: To what extent
TS 1: newspapers and magazines provide important information by updating readers of the world's pressing issues.
TS 2: some newspapers and magazines provide information that are regarding gossips
TS 3: some newspapers provide information that is redundant of a stiuation that has happened, where the information given did not show the progress of the situation at all.
TS 4: articles in newspapers are sometimes exagerated and disregards details that are important
Paragraph for TS 1:
As media is all around us, it is the easiest way for us to obtain information. It is therefore important to review whether newspapers and magazines provide us with valuable information. Newspapers and magazines do provide us with important information. They give us local and global news that is happening around the world. For example, the Straits Times provide us with insights about the current financial crisis in the US as well as the unrest in Tibet. Times magazine also provide us with details such as hybrid cars, current technology that will change the way we live. These news are important and not trivial as it deals with issues that will affect our daily lives such as the financial crisis in US which will cause our economy to slow down as well.
|12:34 AM|
This is a graph about the increase in global temperature for the past 100+ years. As seen the temperature has been rising and it is quite significant. This has been due to industrialisation and the rapid development in many countries. During the Industrial revolution,much labour was replaced by machines. To power them, much coal was burnt which resulted in the emission of green house gases. Green house gases are those that trap heat in earth, thus also resulting in global warming. Now, as urbanisation is very common, most cities in the world have high energy consumption and so burn many fuels, which also result in CO2 emission. Now, let us look at the amount of Co2 emission values of over the years.
As seen, the amount of atmospheric CO2 has been increasing steadily, with no dip or whatsoever. This supports the reasons that were given.
So, you ask what's so scary/bad about global warming? The first most obvious prediction would be that the ice caps at the two poles will melt faster. Thus there would be a rise in sea level. It will then flood many cities that are low-lying. It could also interupt the water system and change the climate, making some places rain heavier and making other places even drier. Agricultural products will be adversely affected and much money will be lost. The values estimated run from US$-10 per tonne of carbon (tC) (US$-3 per tonne of carbon dioxide) up to US$350/tC (US$95 per tonne of carbon dioxide), with a mean of US$43 per tonne of carbon (US$12 per tonne of carbon dioxide).To prevent this, many countries have agreed to cut down on their CO2 emission through the Kyoto Protocol. However, I feel that countries like China And Inda should not be exempted from it. They are the major emittors of CO2 and thus it is also their responsiblity to reduce CO2 emissions. It is only through the efforts of everyone that we can reduce the effect of global warming. As such, i would also like emphasize on individual efforts to reduce their consuption of energy and do a part for our earth. Save the world,save us.
-Zijun Source:wikipedia
|2:01 AM|
Is the environment suffering?
From the graph in Vostok Ice Core Data on the left we can see that temperature has been increasing with the concentration of Carbon Dioxide since 10-20 thousands years ago. Where were humans then? Humans then only produce Carbon Dioxide through breathing and fire used to find our way around; there was no such thing such as machine which contributes a lot to the Carbon Dioxide emission. So it is possible that the global warming we are facing now is a trend? We can see from the graph that about 130 thousand years ago, there was a greater different in temperature relative to today. Perhaps concentration of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere changes with a trend causing a trend in the change of global temperature.
Furthermore, from the graph on the right, we can see that Carbon Dioxide produce by man only contribute 0.117% to greenhouse effect. Water vapour, which many had ignore, is the one that contribute most to the greenhouse effect and of it man only contribute 0.001%. From the graph we can see that man only contribute 0.278% to greenhouse effect, the rest are naturally produce and thus we cannot control it. However from both graph we can see that Carbon Dioxide and other man-made gases do contribute to the greenhouse effect. To prevent the global temperature to further increase from the current natural trend, man should cut down emission of all these greenhouse gases. All these small contributions will result in a small decrease in temperature but is will still be of a significant to the environment. As we know, a small increase of 1 or 2 degree Celsius in global temperature will lead to ice caps melting which will further lead to many horrendous effects such as flooding, extinction of polar bears, etc. Thus a small decrease in global temperature due to man's effort will reduce or even better prevent all these. We can do so through small acts such as switching off the light, fans and most importantly air-condition where they are not in use. Minimise usage of air-condition and if used set it at a temperature of 24 or 25 degree Celsius. Try to use energy saving appliances. All these will reduce energy usage and reduce the amount of fuel burned and reduce the amount of Carbon Dioxide produce.
Quek Sheng Quan
|5:25 PM|
Is the environment suffering?
Is the environment suffering? Of course it is, statistics have shown that the degradation of the envrionment have been worsening at a rapid rate. One perfect example is global warming. Global warming is the increase in average temperature of the earth's near surface air and oceans. The figure shows the increase in the earth's average temperature from 1860 to 2000. This increase in temperature is largely due to industralisation in many countries. Industralisation results in the emission of gases which are called"greenhouse gases" and these gases includes carbon dioxide(CO2), methane and chloroflurocarbons (CFCs). These gases form a layer in the earth's atmosphere and acts like a greenhouse, and traps heat within the earth. Therefore, leading to the increase in the earth's average temperature.
The world undergoing modernisation and mechanisation brings about many problems too. take for example air-conditioners, something that most households have. Air-conditioners have become a need to most of the people, especially in develpoed countries in the tropic area such as Singapore. However, the air-conditioners may help one sleep better. But little do they know that it produces Chlorofluorocarbons(CFCs).
CFC is a kind of gas which is produced when a pieve of styrofoam board is broken. These gases rise up to the earths atmosphere and contribute to the layer of greenhouse gases. These gases not only contribute to the green house effect but also contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer. The Ozone layer is a layer of ozone (O3) that reduces the amout of ultra-violet rays tthat reaches the earth. However CFC reacts with this layer of ozone and thus depleting the layer, making it thinner and causing a hole in the layer. The hole in the ozone layer is shown in the figure above.The hole in the ozone layer woould thus increase the amout of Ultra-violet rays reaching the earth's surface, increasing the radiation and thus increasing the chances of skin dieseases and cancers.
Yi Cong
Labels: YC's
|11:00 AM|
environmental suffering
The data shows the carbon emissions of the African countries compared to the more industrialized and modernized western countries. The data shows the tremendous difference of carbon dioxide emissions between the western and African countries. Although Africa holds about 14% of the world population, it only contributes 3.6% of the world carbon emissions, while the western countries holds less than one-third of the total world population, it contributes over half of the world carbon emissions. This shows that the western countries have a much larger carbon footprint compared to the developing countries in Africa although they always complain that the African countries should cut down on their carbon emissions.
The overall amount of carbon emissions is increasing annually, although a few steps have been undertaken to halt its growth, the results have not been very convincing. Some of the main reasons that contribute to the rising amount of carbon emissions are increasing population, industrialisation and the consumption of larger amounts of fossil fuels and coal to satisfy electricity needs.
The environment is suffering, the signs of it are very obvious, the increasing number of natural disasters are testament to that. There has been a constant rise in the average sea levels around the world. Lowlands around the world are under threat of being submerged by an ever rising sea level. The ice caps in the Antarctic are melting. Creaks could be observed forming in the ice caps. The air is being constantly polluted, factories and cars spew out poisonous fumes that damage our health and the environment. The changes in the climate has caused the occurrence of many natural disasters that are not supposed to happen or have increased the frequency of existing disasters. Currently, the number of minor and major earthquakes occurring are increasing yearly. This shows that all the pollution that we have done to the earth has injured it severely.
When too much pollution is done, the earth will turn barren and will not be able to support life anymore. Then the world will not have anymore land to farm on and feed itself. The world will descend into chaos and destroy itself. I believe that it may be time for everybody to band together to do something drastic about this calamity. Last year, the worldwide concert “LIVE EARTH” is organized to bring forth the message of an earth in crisis, but I feel that it ended as a failure as the people still left rubbish around after the concert and the concert used up a lot of electricity.
Personally, I believe that switching to other forms of renewable energy may be one of the best solutions available with the current state of technology. However it may still be a futile attempt if we do not stop using fossil fuels and coal, or drastically cutting the amount of carbon dioxide that we are emitting. Proper environmental education should be taught to the community so that they can be reformed to cut down on their electrical consumption. New technology could be devised to try to clean up the mess that had already been done. Since the damage is already irreversible, I believe that we could try to minimise the damage done by treating some of it. We could clear up the waste materials dumped into the oceans and bury them in proper landfills, factories can be imposed a quota to the amount of waste gas they can emit over a period of time, where the quota can be enforced strictly. Power stations could be upgraded so they have a higher efficiency, and fewer resources could be wasted. The countries with forests can stop chopping down their trees, instead they can replant the deforested areas with young saplings, which can one day grow up to rebuild the forest again.
To save the earth, it will take copious amounts of time and wealth to do so, but if everyone is willing to help by doing a little in one way or another, the efforts will be able to go a long way in saving the earth, which I firmly believe, will happen one day in the near future.
My computer got a slight glitch, currently cannot paste picture. Will do so after glitch is solved. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
Labels: richen...
|3:27 AM|
Is the environment suffering?
The environment is in fact suffering over the past years throughout the world in different forms. For example, the rainforests in Amazon are being deforested at rates at which it cannot recover fast enough. The size of the rainforests have fallen over the past 20 years due to the high deforestation rates. The reasons for the deforestation are listed in the piechart on the left.
The main causes are agriculturing for food, which is in high demand due to the world's growing population. Even though there are some actions taken to save the rainforests, such as the Forest Stewardship Council, the damage had already been done. It would be years before the rainforests would recover to their former state in the past, and even more so with some illegal logging activities still going on and the growing demand for agricultural food. The ecosystem of the Amazon rainforests have thus been affected greatly. Another example is the recent global warming trend. It is the result of the increase in the release of greenhouse gases through the burning of fossil fuels into the atmosphere.Global warming have caused a change in the climate as well as the environment. The change in the climate have resulted in various problems, such as the melting of the poles, which has caused higher rates of floodings throughout the world.
The increase in global temperatures is shown by the graph on the left. As shown by the examples, Man have been the main cause of these examples of environmental degradations through various actions of making our own lives more comfortable and to ensure our survival at the risk of the environment. Even though we have realised the folly of our past actions, the damage had already been done, and it would take a long time before we can repair the damage we have done, and more importantly, to make more people understand that the environment is actually more fragile than we think it is, and they have a huge part to play in helping the preservation of our environment. With each individual doing their part, it is possible to preserve it in the long run.
|7:18 PM|